Tokyo, July 28 (AP): Bent over in exhaustion before serving. Resting on his racket between points.Grasping for a rubber tube blowing cool air next to his seat on changeovers. Two medical timeouts and one visit from a trainer.
Daniil Medvedev was struggling so much with the suffocating heat and humidity at the Ariake Tennis Park on Wednesday that at one point the chair umpire, Carlos Ramos, asked him if he could continue playing.
“I can finish the match but I can die,” Medvedev replied. “If I die, are you going to be responsible?”
Afterward, Medvedev said he felt “darkness” in his eyes.
“I didn’t know what to do to feel better,” the ROC player added. “I was ready to just fall down on the court.”
Somehow, the second-seeded Medvedev still pulled out a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win over Fabio Fognini of Italy to reach the quarterfinals at the Tokyo Olympics.
The problems the players faced raised questions over why organizers did not grant requests earlier in the tournament from Medvedev and other players — including top-ranked Novak Djokovic — to move all of the tennis matches at the Games to the evening.
As Wednesday’s play neared its conclusion, organizers announced that matches would begin at 3 p.m. starting Thursday to make it easier on the players. Matches had been starting at 11 a.m.
Djokovic was fortunate to play later in the day after Center Court was covered by shadows. The Serbian great served nine aces and defeated Spanish training partner Alejandro DavidovichFokina 6-3, 6-1 to keep his Golden Slam bid going.
Djokovic’s quarterfinal opponent will be Kei Nishikori of Japan, who reached his third straight Olympic quarterfinal by beating IlyaIvashka of Belarus 7-6 (7), 6-0.
Djokovic then won again with Serbian partner Nina Stojanovic in the opening round of the mixed doubles competition. They beat Marcelo Melo and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-3, 6-4.
Out on Court 2, third-seeded StefanosTsitsipas of Greece was far from his best in a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 loss to 14th-seeded UgoHumbert of France. Also, 12th-seeded Karen Khachanov of ROC eliminated eighth-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-1, 2-6, 6-1.